Smaller Companies Spend 2.5 Times More on IT Security than Larger Companies

According to the results of a survey of more than 100 North American senior level IT security practitioners conducted by IT research service Wisegate, smaller companies with less than 1,000 employees generally spend 2.5 times more of their IT budget (10 percent) on security than larger companies with 20,000 or more employees (4 percent).

And across the board, according to the Wisegate 2013 IT Security Benchmark Report, 56 percent of respondents described their company as having a strong security posture.

In general, companies with stronger security postures had 1.5 times more processes, policies, software and systems than companies with weaker security postures -- and companies with weaker security postures reported 41 percent less management engagement and 24 percent less CIO engagement than those with stronger security postures.

The survey also found that 33 percent of senior level IT security practitioners said they're not satisfied with their current job, 8 percent said they're worried about lack of job security, 31 percent said they're not satisfied with their compensation, and 71 percent said their job is stressful.